Should have traded Tmac for Vince Carter We all know the trade was on the table yao would have gone far
How the heck can you ever mention Holmgren and Chet in the same breath, there is zero comparisons. Embid is a far better athlete than Yao way more flexible, maybe Yao would have developed more skills but Embid is a real Unicorn.
Yao is overrated by Rockets fans. He had severe limitations and was not very mobile after he put on the weight. Fronting absolutely killed him. If he were in this era I could imagine him being worse than Adebayo. Better offensively but worse defensively. He simply couldn't guard on switches, he was never that quick and his defensive instincts were never elite.
wonder how the rockets changed their security for players after that. so weird seeing Yao begging for these fans to get out of his garage. can't even find anything about it online anymore like it was all scrubbed. yeah those fans wouldn't even had made it through the lakeforest gate had it been harden or paul.
what entitled suckers they never thought what they did was wrong stalking people and following them home because you want a stupid picture today they would have been shot, especially if someone is following a nba player home
I think people tend to focus on the wrong things with Yao. He was a great foul shooter, but long jumpers were never the strong part of his offensive arsenal. His passing ability was also overrated. But get him the ball with his back to the basket and a guy behind him, and it was pretty much over for the defense. Like clubbing baby seals, as they say. It's true that he struggled defending on the perimeter. But the most underrated thing about Yao was his elite defensive impact around the basket. His size and immovable bulk near the basket was a major deterrent, even if he wasn't making the eye-popping shot-blocking or rebounding plays due his lack of mobility.
Yeah, how many of the great centers in the past could defend on the perimeter? Were they all bad defensive bigs? Of course not. It's just the evolution of the game. On offense, as someone pointed out, Yao kind of fell in between times. He came into the league when the illegal defense rule had been changed but the 3pt shooting spacing was not in vogue. Defenses could double him front and back without the ball. It made it so difficult to make an entry pass to him. It didn't help that he played a large part of his career under JVG, one of the least creative offensive coaches. By the time Adelman came, he and McGrady kind of took turn getting injured.
I'm not sure that Hakeem wasn't the only great center from the past who was a deadly perimeter defender. Who else could do it?
First of all, huh? Holmgren and Chet? Lol? Second, I'm not trying to say who's better between Yao and Embiid - I'm just saying that the closest player to Yao in today's game, is probably Embiid. Far better athlete is a bit of a stretch, since Yao never really needed to rely on footwork in his era. Yao would just back his defender down and jump hook it over him, or just shoot it over him because of the disparity in height. If Yao had to play in this era (and without all those Chinese national team obligations), I'm sure his game would cater towards athleticism than just backing people down.
I don't know why people are mentioning perimeter defense. The struggle Yao had defensively was against quicker 4s masquerading as 5s constantly attacking him with quickness or making him work to get back to a mid range fadeaway. Not 3 point shooters. The times that teams did play all smalls it wasn't defending the perimeter that was the problem, it was finding a way to get Yao the ball with the smaller guy fronting him with help coming over. Yao was a special player, one of the best bigs of his time, but some of the people here really need to get a grip with the mentions of him being better than Shaq or a 3 point shooter.
To be honest, even today, it's extremely hard to find a guy who can defend well both inside and outside. (That's why Jabari Smith is such a rare talent on defense.) The best most teams can do is either play small ball or use some scheme to counter the PnR hunting.
Yao Ming was 290 when he entered the league, how is that different from Jokic who weighs 284 pounds? If Jokic can be effective at that weight why can't Yao? Yao doesnt need to be a thin dude and do behind the back ankle breakers to be a perimeter player cuz guess what Yao is 7'6 if he rises up for a 3 who is blocking that shot? Look at players like Embiid, Jokic and Porzingis on how they can be effective scoring in the perimeter despite being massive dudes. As for Shaq yeah he can lead fast breaks, but he also doesnt have good shot mechanics so it makes zero sense for him to play on the perimeter. Yao shot 81% on fts if he developed his jumper he had potential to be a 3 pt bomber.
what year was this? i don’t remember. but who would trade mergady for vins back then? i only remember jvg ruined yao by making him into a tree and planted him in the low post. breh was also standing at eye level with me whenever i attend games and sat up in poor sections, crazy tall. watching from way up there was like seeing miniature players running around and then a full sized yao standing in the middle
Yao isnt better than Shaq but judging from his elite ft% he could def have been an above average 3 pt shooter at least if he had worked on it. I repeat dude shot 81% from the free throw line. How many active players are shooting fts that high and cant shoot 3s? So everyone saying Yao couldnt shoot 3s just dont know what they are talking about. He didnt shoot 3s cuz he played under JVG and Tom Thibs who hVe no clue there are other ways to score besides the post. But if he played in the modern era instead of being taught post moves again and again he would been allowed to expand his game and shoot 3s. At 7'6 he literally towers over everyone else when he jumps and shoots a 3 very few people can even reach him to block his shot.